Would you vote for an LGBT-specific political party?

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One the very few LGBT-specific political parties has launched in Australia, with a view to legalising same-sex marriage in the country once and for all.

The Australian Equality Party was launched at the St Kilda pride march last weekend, and named its first intention to ensure equal marriage passes in the country. It also hopes to gain equality for LGBT people.

Jason Tuazon-McCheyne, 43, launched the party last week, as he said he and his husband, who married in Canada, and who have one son, were “sick of being told how our marriage is not real or that we are not real parents”.

Mr Tuazon-McCheyne, a marriage celebrant, said he plans to run for the Australian Senate at the next election.

He said he was every week “reminded of what I’m not allowed to have and not allowed to be,” as marriage ceremonies require him to read out a monitum which specifies that marriage is between one man and one woman.

“I long for the day we are just the same as everyone else in the eyes of the law.”

As well as fighting for LGBT rights, the party also aims to end all anti-LGBT discrimination, and for human rights for all.

After launching the party, Mr Tuazon-McCheyne said the party should appeal to all.

He said: “We are not a left-leaning party, we are not a right-leaning party … human rights is not a left-right issue.”

Australian federal law was amended in 2004 to specify that marriage can only be between a man and a woman. Equal marriage remains banned at federal level despite efforts to legalise the measure failed in the Australian Parliament in September 2012.

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